I want my audience to know just how much I love acting: Rukmini Vasanth

Rukmini Vasanth, Rakshit Shetty’s love interest in Hemant M Rao’s Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (SSE) tells us she’s just a novice in the industry. In fact, she repeats this line several times during the interview. She’s dressed in a simple white kurti, she brings along a novel that she’s currently reading — The Forty Rules of Love, and a water bottle. In a conversation with us, she talks about love, how acting is everything to her, and how she DM-ed Hemant Rao for a part in SSE. Excerpts:
‘I thought I’d be blacklisted and that the entire team would be laughing at me’
I DM-ed Hemant Rao for a part in SSE. I think it was one of the bravest moments of my life. I was shaking. In drama school, I was told that it was very unprofessional for actors to approach filmmakers directly and that one must go through the proper channels.
But when I found out that they were looking for their female lead, it was like the universe had laid out an invitation for me and it was a no brainer — I had to do it. I knew then if I let the opportunity slide, it would be very silly of me. I was also thinking, ‘What’s the worst-case scenario?’ At the most, Hemant Rao would see my message and say, ‘Wow, what an unprofessional actor’.
I sent the message and he saw it within five minutes and then didn’t respond for 10 days. In those 10 days, I played out every scenario in my head: I thought I’d be blacklisted and that the entire team would be reading the message and laughing at me.
Finally, I got a reply from Hemant. Then there was an audition and now, here I am.

‘Sapta Sagaradaache Ello portrays a love that Gen-Z will want’
I’m somewhere on the cusp of both millennial and Gen Z but in terms of my mentality and the way I view things, I’m very old school. Everybody likes to talk about how the younger generation, the Gen-Z in particular, are very flippant about things like love and how they date a lot. But I believe the essence of the relationship that is shown in Sapta Sagaradaache Ello, that constancy, that strength is something that every generation would aspire for. With more of the younger generation coming to theatres and watching Kannada films, I believe that love portrayed in the film will connect with them.

‘I was questioning my life choices during the pandemic’
My first experience in front of the camera was in 2019 and after that, there was a very long gap. The pandemic was a very uncertain time for everyone. It was a very tumultuous, turbulent time globally. Everyone was reconsidering their life priorities. We all had some conflict going on within us. For me it was questions like ‘Am I in the right place?’, ‘Am I attempting to do the right thing?’, ‘Maybe this is a very dramatic sign from the universe that I am not meant to be here.’

‘I want my audience to know just how much I love acting’
I’m just a novice in the industry and so far, my experience has been amazing, life changing.
I don’t need my audience to know anything particular about me as a person. I just want them to see me through the characters I play. I want them to see Priya and understand her, how she clicks, how her mind works. I want my audience to know just how much I love acting.